Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Happy almost fall! It's Renee here from Fantastic First Grade Froggies. Hopefully you are getting settled with your new class and off to a great start. I am here today with a freebie of mine from the past. It's a great way to practice adjectives. Read more about it below.

Here is a great poetry activity I like to do with my students. It's a great review of their five senses and adjectives. First I introduced what an adjective was. We used our five senses to describe leaves, apples and pumpkins. I explained that these are all adjectives (and I began to see adjectives in some of their writing later in the week).

After brainstorming adjectives in small groups, we made charts from all three items.

Next we, wrote our our Fall is...poems. We had also sponge painted construction paper is fall colors and cut our leaf shapes from the sponged art. Here is a sample of the finished product. It is great to see them using adjective in their writing now!

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Happy September! Now that everyone is back to school (or will be this week!), it's time to start looking at the big events coming up this month ... Grandparents Day, Constitution Day, Johnny Appleseed Day, the first day of autumn, and just-for-the-fun-of-it day, AKA Talk Like a Pirate Day!

It is a totally crazy day, but after a few weeks in school (along with the fact that you can celebrate it on a FRIDAY this year!!), you might just want to put on the eye patches and tuck some pirate fun into your teaching that day. Think of it as a "Hooray, We've Finally Finished Assessments (for now at least) Celebration - Aaaargh!!!" And what better way to celebrate than with some wonderful read-alouds!

I've been poking through the pirate books at our public library and I've come up with a few that I'm excited to share with you. I love books that celebrate the joy of reading, gently encouraging our students to enjoy the excitement of books. Here are two pirate books that do just that. {affiliate links included}

The first is No Pirates Allowed! said Library Lou by Rhonda Gowler Greene.

Reminiscent of one of my faves, Suzanne Williams' Library Lil, this is another story of a spunky librarian who stands up to a tough guy - this time, it's grumbly, loud, and very smelly Big Pirate Pete. He's come to the library in search of treasure, and (after sending him home for a bath and a fresh set of clothes), Lou sets out to help him find it. She teaches Pete to read and after reading lots of books, the newly-civilized pirate realizes where the treasure is ...

David McPhail's Edward and The Pirates is another book that combines pirates with enthusiasm for reading.

Beautifully illustrated on that lovely velvety paper that makes some books extra-special even before you start to read, this story features Edward, a little boy who loves books so much that the situations and characters he reads about come alive for him, which makes for a very interesting adventure after he reads a book about pirates!

After you read Edward and The Pirates, here's a free set of related story problems to solve with your class. They are mostly at end-of-first, beginning-of-second grade level, but you'll find that you can adjust up and down a bit for your own grade. My favorite card is the last one, which has your students partner up to use their own imaginations in creating number stories using a list of words from the book.

I'm excited to share with you that Educents is currently featuring three of my math resources in a money-saving Pirate Day Deal! I hope you'll stop by my Educents store and take a look!

Friday, September 4, 2015

Here are my favorite 3:

These tips are amazing!

1. Set up easy-peasie assessments:

My students actually BEG to be tested because ESGI lets you use your computer, tablet, or even your phone to assess students.

I set up my assessments using ESGI. It's fast, easy, and give you oh, so much great data that will make your admin so happy all while guiding your instruction! If you click on the gray area, you can see which students have not mastered each skill!

Check out these parent letters (they come in English and Spanish)

that tell parents exactly what their child knows and doesn't know!

And the flashcards you can create for each child are perfect to send home and also use for in-class intervention!

You can use their built-in assessments or create your own. Check out the videos on ESGI's site to learn more.

(Try this FREE for 60 days and if you like it, use the code B2174 for $40 off.)

2. Set up Simply Circle to enhance all of your communications with parents.

Click HERE to see my post about this easy to use tool that will allow you to easily communicate with parents and cut down on the amount of paper you use to send home flyers.

3. Prepare a few things for an entire year like your monthly writing prompts. Run off a class set of each prompt for the entire year and you are good to go! These prompt are seasonal and integrate science, social studies, and seasonal activities throughout the year!

And here is a FREEBIE that I have not made public yet. For now, it's just for YOU: